Jan 6, 2008 7:31 pm US/Eastern
Clinton, Obama Clash In Personal Terms
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ―
The leading Democratic presidential candidates clashed Sunday
heading into the slushy New Hampshire homestretch, deriding each
others' claims to be the true candidate of change. Hillary Clinton told
Democratic voters they should elect "a doer, not a talker." Barack Obama
countered that his critics are stuck in the politics of the past.
At a raucous rally in a high school gymnasium in Nashua, Clinton
skewered Obama for several votes he has cast in the Senate, such as his
vote in favor of the Patriot Act and for energy legislation she
described as "Dick Cheney's energy bill." She never mentioned Obama's
name but left no doubt about whom she was discussing.
"You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose," Clinton said.
Obama, speaking at a packed Manchester theater, took issue with
Clinton's criticism of him during Saturday's Democratic presidential
debate.
"One of my opponents said we can't just, you know, offer the American people false hopes about what we can get done," he said.
"The real gamble in this election is to do the same things, with the
same folks, playing the same games over and over and over again and
somehow expect a different result," he said. "That is a gamble we
cannot afford, that is a risk we cannot take. Not this time. Not now.
It is time to turn the page."
The rhetoric reflected the potentially pivotal nature of Tuesday's
primary. Obama, the freshman Illinois senator, is hoping to sustain
momentum from his caucus victory in Iowa, and Clinton is looking to
recover from her stinging third-place finish.
A CNN/WMUR poll released Saturday found Clinton and Obama tied at 33
percent each in the state, with John Edwards trailing at 20 percent.
Edwards edged Clinton for second place in Iowa and appeared to be
hoping for a repeat in New Hampshire.
One of the sharpest exchanges of the day came when Edwards and the
Clinton campaign traded words over Edwards' reference to last month's
death of a 17-year-old girl, Nataline Sarkisyan of California, in
making his case for challenging the health insurance industry.
Edwards, speaking to reporters in Keene, said Clinton and her
advisers "have no conscience" after a Clinton aide suggested Edwards
was using medical victims "as talking points" in his presidential bid.
Edwards campaigned with Sarkisyan family members Sunday.
In Saturday's televised debate from Manchester, Clinton acknowledged
that Edwards helped the Senate pass a "patient bill of rights," but she
noted that the measure died in the House.
"One of the reasons that Nataline may well have died is because
there isn't a patient's bill of rights," Clinton said in the debate.
On Sunday, she said her point was that Edwards "answered a question
about what his greatest accomplishment was in the Senate by trying to
mislead people that a bill he worked on became law."
Sunday's campaign tone picked up from the debate, when Obama and
Edwards seemed to work in tandem to deny Clinton's claim that she is
the best prepared to undertake change.
Edwards told reporters that he and Obama offer real change to
voters, while Clinton represents "the status quo." He also argued he
has more passion for change and would be more willing to fight for his
goals than Obama. "He just believes you can negotiate with people,"
Edwards said.
Asked Sunday about an alliance with Obama, Edwards said, "I think
there is a conviction alliance." Then he added, "First of all, I
wouldn't go so far as to call it an alliance. Let me disagree with
that. ..."
Obama aides found themselves on the defensive after Clinton said
during Saturday's debate that Obama's New Hampshire campaign
co-chairman, Jim Demers, is a lobbyist whose clients include
pharmaceutical companies. The Clinton campaign kept up the criticism
Sunday morning in a teleconference call with reporters, noting that
Obama has repeatedly said he does not take money from federal lobbyists
or political action committees.
Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said Demers is a state
lobbyist and does not do business involving federal legislation or
regulation. He said the campaign has drawn a distinction between
lobbyists who are registered to work at the state level and those who
lobby the federal government.
"A ban on lobbying money and PACs is far from perfect," Gibbs
said. "There is a difference between a college football player and
professional football player," he added.
During the debate, while Clinton referred to Demers, the camera caught Obama shaking his head, saying "not so."
"He was shaking his head because her implication was that it
violated our lobbyist pledge and his role quite clearly does not,"
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.
Obama sounded an upbeat tone throughout the day, telling New
Hampshire crowds their votes could propel him to the Democratic
nomination.
"You will have the chance to change America in two days time,"
he said. "In two days we can do what the cynics said could not be done.
We will have the chance to come together, Democrats, Republicans,
independents and announce that we are one nation, we are one people and
it is time for change in America. This is our moment, this is our
time."
Meanwhile, the former first lady was clearly elated to be
greeted by a large, enthusiastic audience in the same Nashua high
school that Obama filled the day before. Both candidates had to use a
second gym for the overflow crowd.
With the war still prominent in the minds of New Hampshire
voters, Clinton said at one stop: "After 9/11, I would never have taken
us to war in Iraq. I would have stayed focused on Afghanistan because
the real threat was coming from there."
Pressed by a reporter later to explain the comment given her
vote to support the use of military force in Iraq, Clinton said it was
nothing different from what she'd said in the past. "At the time that
vote took place, I said it wasn't a vote for pre-emptive war," she said
Earlier Sunday, Clinton and daughter Chelsea braved slushy
sidewalks to go door to door in Manchester for about an hour seeking
votes.
After leaving one house, Clinton was asked by a TV reporter how she felt about the Democratic debate the night before.
"Really good," the senator said. "We're starting to draw a contrast for New Hampshire voters between talkers and doers."
Mary Johnson, 60, a retired school teacher, said Clinton's visit
was "a wonderful surprise." She said was leaning toward Obama, though
she said he looked tired in Saturday's debate. "He didn't impress me.
So we'll see."
Clinton, she said, "has always been my second choice."
Husband Bill was campaigning in North Conway, N.H., sticking to the key word "change."
"There's a different between talk and action. It makes a big
difference if you've actually changed people's lives, if it's the work
of your life," the former president said.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
